Beijing may have lost the court case, but it still rules the South China Sea
Tom Plate says Beijing made a blunder in not settling its maritime dispute with the Philippines out of court, but after years of quietly reclaiming land and building facilities in the South China Sea, its actual position is one of great strength
The Obama administration was shocked and rocked by these words: “We recommend that the United States bring its [raised tariffs against China] into conformity with its obligations.”
That, just two years ago, was the sharply worded ruling from an international body whose judgment Beijing roundly cheered. It came out of Geneva, from the World Trade Organisation, of which both the US and China are members. The WTO had found the Obama administration in violation of international rules with its set of aggressive US tariffs against China importers. How embarrassing!
So, what did Washington then do? What could it do? You either abide by an unfavourable ruling or get out of the organisation. Since you cannot expect to win all disputes all the time in any court, you stay in the system because you know you will win at least some of the time. The alternative is a completely lawless world trade system in which clouds of chaos might precede the more dangerous fogs of war.
Beijing’s official reaction to the 2014 WTO judgment? “China urges the United States to respect the WTO rulings and correct its wrongdoings of abusively using trade remedy measures, and to ensure an environment of fair competition for Chinese enterprises.”
That was the public statement issued by Chinese diplomats – and it was hard to blame them for its “we told you so” tone. After all, it was their diligent legal and deft diplomatic work that so paid off for the world to see.
But that was then and this is now: China’s skilled diplomats have little to celebrate this week.
